Hi Wayne. I would be in for this product for all of the above reasons. Thanks for all you and Elecraft does for our hobby.
73 Tom K4TJD On November 16, 2018 8:58:33 PM EST, Wayne Burdick <n...@elecraft.com> wrote: >Hi all, > >Sometimes the bands normally covered by the AX1 just aren't open >(20/17/15 meters), yet 40 meters has all sorts of activity. Like >tonight, at my QTH. 40 m is also a great local/emergency band, with >many active regional nets. > >For such times, we may offer an extender for the AX1 that moves the 20 >meter resonance down to 40 meters. > >A significant amount of additional inductance is required. The ATU >built into the KX2 or KX3 provides any needed fine-tuning to >efficiently cover the entire band, despite the unavoidably narrow-band >nature of a short whip. > >I whipped up a prototype of the hypothetical "AXE1" this afternoon and >had excellent on-air results. Tests were done in my back yard, >featuring hard-packed soil and brown unwatered grass...in keeping with >our legendary drought. With one call each I bagged British Columbia and >Colorado. Both stations were peaking S-9, and both gave me reports in >the S-5 range. > >This brings up an important caveat: a short whip is not the optimal >antenna on 40 meters by any stretch, so calling strong stations is a >good strategy. They could be strong due to propagation, good antennas, >or high power, and two out of these three aid both ends of the QSO. > >The extender would be about 6" long and 1/2" in diameter. (Even a small >amount of added length helps on 40 meters.) It threads into place >between the AX1's whip and base, and adds just 1.8 ounces of weight, >still consistent with hand-held use of the KX2. > >Equally important, for those of us who travel light, the extender -- >plus a counterpoise wire for 40 m -- fits comfortably into our smallest >bag, the CS40, along with the AX1 and an AXB1 whip bipod. > >(In answer to the inevitable question: it *might* also work on 30 >meters in a pinch, with an ATU, but efficiency would be lower.) > >If you'd be interested in AX1 use on 40 meters, please email me >directly. I won't necessarily be able to respond, but this will help us >gauge interest. We'll keep a list for possible early announcement. > >73, >Wayne >N6KR > > > > > > > >______________________________________________________________ >Elecraft mailing list >Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > >This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html >Message delivered to tjdoo...@comcast.net -- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
